The Value of Diversity

As I read my students' blogs, I will occasionally come across some really good ones. (Unfortunately, uninteresting blogs are more common....) One of the consistently good blogs I read is written by Jordan. He wrote an interesting post about Atheism, which made me really question my own assumptions about people, along with a number of other thoughtful posts. If you have not read his writing, I would urge you to check it out (after you read this post, of course.)

Today, I want to talk about his post on Diversity. In that post, Jordan wrote, "I think diversity is absolutely necessary in one’s life, just to show them that they aren't the only person that looks like this or the only person to think like this. I will travel to see how other people live, think, act, speak, believe, and disbelieve."

I absolutely agree with Jordan's position on the value and importance of diversity. I have found that the more I am exposed to people who are different from me, the richer my life becomes. When I am only with people who think and act like me, my world is smaller and less complex. For example, when I was a child, the Sunday nearest to July 4th was an interesting day at church. Our services were filled with refrains of "God Bless America" and other patriotic American songs. I never questioned that practice. After all, I was an American and I was in church. Singing about God and America together made sense.

But then, my horizons were expanded when I met a man from Belgium who moved to the United States and attended church for the first time with his wife on July 4th in Texas, of all places. He told me later how uncomfortable they were in church that day and how he and his wife feared they had made a bad move. Throughout the service, God and America were intertwined to the point that he thought that Americans worshiped a God who only cared about the United States. He believed in a God who loved the world, not just one country. He feared there would be no place for him in that church. I was exposed to a person from a different culture with a different frame of reference, and I grew in my thinking because of that.

However, that doesn't mean that coming face to face with people whose cultures, values, religion, or experiences vary greatly from mine is easy. It is not; in fact, sometimes diversity can be really uncomfortable. It is a challenge for me to remember that there is more than ONE RIGHT WAY to do things. And, as much as I don't want to admit it, my way may not always be the best way. That doesn't mean that I fully accept all diversity. There are some areas in which I continue to struggle. But, as long as I am engaging in the struggle, there is the potential for continued growth and development.